1 Minute

2 Minutes

After rinsing and cooking the beans, stash some in the fridge to eat during the week. Then double-bag and freeze the leftovers in single-size portions. Use the same strategy for vegetables, pasta, grains and sauces.

2 Minutes

Fill 10 resealable plastic bags with cut fresh vegetables to snack on each day. Studies suggest that people who eat more than two servings of vegetables every day have brains that function as if they were five years younger.

1 Minute

Before going to bed, put 1 cups steel-cut oats and 6 cups antioxidant-rich,unsweetened vanilla almond milk in a slow cooker set on low, suggests Dawn Jackson Blatner, RD, of the American Dietetic Association. "Tomorrow morning you’ll have a healthy breakfast for the week," she says. For variety, mix in other ingredients, such as purees, berries or walnuts.

1 Minute

Snack on dried fish. "Some of my clients love ahi tuna jerky and salmon jerky," says New York City dietitian Cynthia Sass. She suggests that they nibble on SnackMasters’s products. ($8; snackmasters.com) to get more brain- and heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids from oily fish into their diets. Other people may prefer lox with whole-grain crackers.

4 Minutes

Soup it up: Research says that starting a meal with a low-calorie soup or stew helps you feel fuller so you consume fewer calories throughout the day. Try the tomato-based vegetable stew developed by trainer Jim Karas, author of The 7 Day Energy Surge.

2 Minutes

2 Minutes

Have some low-sodium vegetable juice. Drinking eight ounces a day may promote weight loss: Recent diet research found that juice drinkers lost four pounds over 12 weeks, three pounds more than those who followed the same menu but didn’t drink the juice.

5 Minutes

Munch on dried fruit or vegetable snacks. One of our favorites: JustVeggies ($5; justtomatoes.com)
Next: Flatten Your Belly FastAuthor Maridel Reyes is the national editor at Vital Juice, a daily health and wellness newsletter. Her work has appeared in Glamour, Self, Prevention and New York Magazine.